Az abszolút kormeghatározás lehetőségei, avagy a 9. századi keltezés nehézségei egy debreceni lelőhely tükrében

The authors of this study are attempting to completely process the settlement and burial-ground found on the site of Debrecen–Bellegelő, Bordás–tanya, something that has been waiting to be done for almost ten years. Responding to the invitation of the conference ”The Great Hungarian Plain in the 9th century II. – New results” (Az Alföld a 9. században II. – Új eredmények) we decided to try to examine the site’s 9th century layer, using radiocarbon dating. The datings were done in two steps: in February and May 2014. The tests were made by the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies, operated jointly by the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Debrecen (ATOMKI) and Isotoptech Ltd. The samples were prepared by István Major, the measurings and their evaulations by Dr Mihály Molnár. First we took samples of human bones from chosen graves in the burial-ground, then of animal bones from selected features of the settlement. We had to keep in mind that the probable radiocarbon age of the samples would not coincidence with the timeframe defined by archaeology (8th, 9th century). The Late Avar Period is not the best age to be examined with radiocarbon dating, because of the plateau on the calibration curve, the age of a sample could be as long as a century: in a calender this means intervals 670–770, 770–880 and 880–990. In accordance, most of our samples fell into the 670–770 interval, the possibility of them being from the 9th century not marked by either one or even two sigmas(σ). Among the burial-ground›s graves, only in no. 440/440 – the sample taken from the bones of a child around the age of 4–5 – brought results from the 9th century: cal 690–820 AD (1 σ), cal 690–870 AD (2 σ). This, however cannot be evaluated for us, because its radiocarbon age covers almost two centuries. The sample taken from house no. 9/9 fell into the second interval, and this is the closest to the answer we would have liked to get: cal 770–870 AD (1 σ), cal 710–750 and cal 760–890 AD (2 σ). We put the ceramics from the filling of the house to the late 8th – early 9th century, together with the radiocarbon results, I believe we can accept the one sigma result. The radiocarbon data in itself hasn’t brought the expected results in respect of the 9th century, and because of the low number of samples we have to treat the results we received carefully. We hope that the “negative result” of the burial-ground is also a step forward in the settlement’s sampling, which we wish to continue in the future

A koponyán előforduló rendellenes nyílások differenciáldiagnózisa

A koponyákon előforduló rendellenes nyílások eredetének meghatározása az embertan és a régészet számára egyaránt fontos, mert jellemzi az adott népesség életmódját, betegségeit, kultikus szokásait. A differenciáldiagnózis során használt adataink a következők: a rendellenesség helye, száma, mérete, alakja, kinézete, szimmetria viszonyai, életkorbeli és nemek közötti összefüggések, genetikai hát- tér, gyakorisági adatok. Az összehasonlító vizsgálatok során fontos az egyén koponyáján kívül a váz- maradvány teljes körű vizsgálata, a társult rendellenességek keresése is. A diagnosztizált esetek közül bemutatunk három koponyalékelést, egy traumás sérülést, egy megnagyobbodott falcsonti nyílást és egy rákos megbetegedést

More than one millennium (2nd-16th century CE) of the White Plague in the Carpathian Basin – New cases, expanding knowledge

The causative agent of tuberculosis is still a widespread pathogen, which caused the death of ca. 1.6 million people globally in 2021. The paleopathological study of human remains revealed the antiquity of the disease and its continuous presence throughout the history of humankind. The Carpathian Basin has always been a biocultural melting pot, since it has seen several migrations over the centuries, and served as a location of admixture and interaction for numerous populations of different cultures. Thus, this geographical territory is ideal for the examination of the coevolutionary processes of hosts and their pathogens. We aimed to reveal the spatial and temporal distribution of tuberculosis cases excavated inside the borders of Hungary between the 2nd and 16th centuries CE. We established a comprehensive database by collecting 114 already published cases and introducing 39 new cases. The involved cases include those that have been confirmed by different molecular methods, as well as possible infections that were identified based on the presence of macromorphological and radiological alterations. The progress of future molecular and paleopathological studies can be facilitated by our dataset, as it presents spatial and temporal information concerning the spread of the disease in the Carpathian Basin, as well as the biological profile and detailed paleopathological description of lesions illustrated by photo- and radiographs

Ancient genomes reveal origin and rapid trans-Eurasian migration of 7th century Avar elites

© 2022 The AuthorsThe Avars settled the Carpathian Basin in 567/68 CE, establishing an empire lasting over 200 years. Who they were and where they came from is highly debated. Contemporaries have disagreed about whether they were, as they claimed, the direct successors of the Mongolian Steppe Rouran empire that was destroyed by the Turks in ∼550 CE. Here, we analyze new genome-wide data from 66 pre-Avar and Avar-period Carpathian Basin individuals, including the 8 richest Avar-period burials and further elite sites from Avar's empire core region. Our results provide support for a rapid long-distance trans-Eurasian migration of Avar-period elites. These individuals carried Northeast Asian ancestry matching the profile of preceding Mongolian Steppe populations, particularly a genome available from the Rouran period. Some of the later elite individuals carried an additional non-local ancestry component broadly matching the steppe, which could point to a later migration or reflect greater genetic diversity within the initial migrant population.N